As is required by sounding rocket utilization, a real-time multi-channel picture capture and compression system applied in sounding rocket is studied and realized in the study, which introduces two key techniques applied in the system. The system bases its architecture on ARM and FPGA, and adopts a dedicated video-compression chip as the core processing unit. By way of improving the reliability of time division multiplexing of cameras and optimizing the control schemes of compression ratio, the system satisfies the requirement of low power consumption and high compression ratio in sounding rockets. It has compact circuit framework, high integration level and great flexibility. Practical tests show that, the system has some good features, such as being light-small, low-power, and low-cost. In the experiment named Space Environment Vertical Exploration, the system shot important scenes, including the separation of rocket head and engine, as well as the deployment of electric field detection boom. By adoption of contour volume evaluation methods, it is concluded that the pictures shot during the flight have sufficient definition for scientific research and engineer application.